Water Margin: The opening scene involves assassinating Emperor Huizong of Song and forcibly taking L

Xiao Chu then asked, "After a year of peace, the national treasury has a surplus, and now gold and silver mines have been discovered in Japan."

Was the Ming Dynasty really short of money?

"We don't need it for now," Zhao Yuan said.

Xiao Chu said, "Since the imperial court is not short of money, the purpose of issuing paper money in Sichuan is to facilitate trade."

Zhao Yuan nodded: "Indeed. Sichuan merchants hoard large quantities of silk, treating it as a form of wealth."

"Only a minority of transactions were conducted using commercial bills; large transactions in various parts of Sichuan were still based on silk."

"The prosperous land of Sichuan has always faced obstacles in its commerce compared to other provinces due to the constraints of currency."

"I've heard that some merchants even treat top-quality black tea as a form of currency."

Chapter 3266 Issuance of Treasure Notes

Xiao Chu, fearing to provoke the emperor's rebellious sentiments, carefully smoothed things over: "If it's for the sake of currency, then it is indeed appropriate to issue paper money in Sichuan."

Zhao Yuan smiled and said, "Mr. Xiao, please get straight to the second half. We can skip the initial flattery and pleasantries."

Xiao Chu then got to the point: "The benefits of paper money are twofold: first, it facilitates circulation, and second, it helps to accumulate wealth."

"The downside of paper money is its excessive issuance. Is there a way to obtain its benefits while eliminating its drawbacks?"

"Once it's done, not only Sichuan can issue precious paper money, but all provinces across the country can issue it!"

"Please speak," Zhao Yuan said.

Xiao Chu straightened his back and said, "We will only issue large denomination notes of one hundred and fifty strings of cash, specifically for merchant transactions. As for small transactions and daily buying and selling, we will still use silver dollars and copper coins as currency."

"In this way, the imperial court benefits from issuing currency, merchants benefit from the convenience of trade, and it has no impact on ordinary people."

Zhao Yuan said, "I have also thought about this approach and discussed it repeatedly. It is indeed the safest method."

"If there's a safe way, why take the risk? His Highness himself said the court isn't short of money; we shouldn't risk losing more for a small gain."

Xiao Chu advised,

“A hundred years from now, there may be rulers and ministers who abuse the power to issue paper money, but this should not have started with the founding sage king.”

"Emperor Taizu and Emperor Taizong are the forefathers of their respective dynasties. Since the forefathers set the example, those who come after will surely follow suit, and they can justify it without any pretense!"

Zhao Yuan smiled and nodded: "What you say is absolutely right, sir. I will think it over carefully before acting."

Xiao Chu spoke for a while longer, then got up to take his leave.

In fact, this is what Zhao Yuan intended to do. The complete monetary system of the Ming Dynasty in the future will be as follows—

The Ming Dynasty Treasure Notes were used exclusively for large transactions. They were available in denominations of 200, 100, and 50 strings of cash.

Gold coins: mostly used for rewards and collections, but also for transactions. Denominations included one tael, five mace, two mace, and one mace.

Silver dollars: Used for daily transactions. They had the same face value as gold dollars.

Copper coins: used for daily transactions. Denominations included five coins, two coins, and one coin.

Gold and silver coins of one or two qian (a unit of weight) were heavily impurities added to ensure their volume and appearance.

The reason why gold and silver coins are measured in "taels" and "qian" is because the price of gold and silver has been fluctuating.

For example, at the founding of the Northern Song Dynasty, each tael of gold was worth 20 strings of cash.

As peace returned to the world, the price of gold quickly dropped to 10 strings of cash, 8 strings, and 5 strings.

By the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the price of gold had soared to 32 strings of cash!

To find out which period in ancient times was stable and prosperous, you can simply look at the price of gold.

The higher the price of gold, the more chaotic the world becomes.

The saying "gold is precious in times of chaos" is no exaggeration.

Therefore, the monetary system of the new Ming Dynasty was anchored to the copper coins issued by the government.

The standard copper coins of the Ming Dynasty had denominations of one, two, and five cash.

The old copper coins could still be used, but their value had to be judged based on their condition.

The Ming Dynasty Treasure Notes were directly pegged to standard copper coins.

The gold and silver coins of the Ming Dynasty were only priced in taels and qian, and their purchasing power fluctuated with the price of gold and silver.

The latest official pricing is: 1 tael of gold equals 10 silver coins, which is equivalent to 16 strings of copper coins.

In the coming years, as Japan continues to import silver, the price of silver will inevitably decline gradually.

Meanwhile, copper coins would flood into Sichuan, Korea, and Japan, and their purchasing power would rise steadily.

At that time, the value of one tael of silver might shrink to a few hundred copper coins (this was a common occurrence during prosperous times in ancient times).

Without the influx of foreign silver, this typically only occurs during the peak of a dynasty.

Hehe, even wealthy people who collect silver coins face risks!

Once the price of silver continues to fall, wealthy households will inevitably take out their hoarded silver coins to circulate in order to preserve the value of their assets, and exchange them for standard copper coins from the Ming Dynasty for storage.

Once the silver-copper price ratio stabilizes, wealthy individuals will be more inclined to collect silver coins.

All that rambling at the previous imperial meeting was just a habitual attempt to lift the roof and achieve the small goal of opening a window.

Unfortunately, after the meeting, only Xiao Chu came to offer advice.

It seems that the other cabinet ministers were all manipulated by Zhao Yuan.

Unless it's something particularly outrageous, once the emperor makes a decision, there have been no ministers opposing it in the last year or two.

Of course, the main reason is that Zhao Yuan was very self-disciplined, and most of the decisions he made were in line with "benevolent governance".

Otherwise, even the founding emperor would have stubborn ministers who would risk their lives to remonstrate with him.

The current officials in the court have a very simple thought process: This emperor is benevolent and valiant, and he hasn't done anything outrageous.

As long as it doesn't seriously affect the overall situation, let's just go along with Zhao Yuan for now, and treat him as a living ancestor to be properly respected.

Look how simple this emperor was! He had only three women in his harem: one empress, one imperial concubine, and one concubine.

He was too lazy to even bestow titles upon concubines and noble ladies such as Shuyi, Zhaorong, and Xiurong. If it were another emperor, even if he was not interested in women, he would definitely have bestowed a lot of titles to show his majesty.

Hmm... no, there seems to be some rumors going around that the emperor is planning to take Li Qingzhao as a concubine.

......

Chapter 3267 Four-Colored Paper Money

Hanzhong.

Li Rui, the chief officer of the Hanzhong branch of the Baoquan Bureau, took out several banknotes and handed them over: "Prefect, please take a look."

The prefect of Hanzhong was named Huang Shu'ao, a man of high seniority, being Huang Tingjian's cousin.

Upon receiving the Ming Dynasty banknotes, Huang Shu'ao's first reaction was disgust.

Not to mention ordinary people, even officials feel disgusted when they see this thing.

Li Rui explained, "This year, only three million strings of cash will be printed, all with a face value of one hundred strings, totaling thirty thousand banknotes. Please look at the top of the front; that's the serial number for this batch of banknotes."

Huang Shu'ao put on his reading glasses and looked closely. He saw the following words printed in red ink: Gengxu 020001.

"The numbers on each one are different?" Huang Shu'ao seemed a little surprised.

Li Rui said, "Each one is different. The seal is in a rotating design, with one seal for the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, and another for the numbers."

"The two seals were held by two adjutants in the Baoquan Bureau. The sexagenary cycle and numbers had to be properly matched before they could be stamped together."

"In addition, the other seals for printing money were also in the hands of several officials."

"It can both prevent counterfeiting and prevent officials of the Baoquan Bureau from secretly printing more than their allotted copies."

Huang Shu'ao nodded and said, "That's very good."

Li Rui then said, "Please, Prefect, examine the hidden patterns."

Huang Shu'ao walked to the door, looked at the watermark in the sky, took off his reading glasses and rubbed his eyes: "An imperial crown portrait?"

Li Rui explained, "That is the current Holy Emperor. Anyone who dares to counterfeit this banknote is committing treason!"

Huang Shu'ao quickly placed a stack of banknotes on the table, then bowed deeply. He then examined them carefully.

"The four-color printing makes it more fancy and attractive than the paper money issued during the Song Dynasty. Several more seals have also been added, making it quite intimidating. Alas, I'm afraid the court will over-issue it."

Li Rui then explained: "The denominations of the Ming Dynasty Treasure Notes are two hundred strings of cash, one hundred strings of cash, and fifty strings of cash, and they are only for use by merchants in Sichuan and Hanzhong."

"As long as it doesn't involve ordinary people, that's fine," Huang Shu'ao nodded and said.

Li Rui said, "I am new here and not very familiar with Hanzhong. I would like to ask you, sir, to invite the wealthy merchants from various counties in Hanzhong to come and meet me."

There are indeed many wealthy merchants in Hanzhong, after all, this is the place where the dragon rose to power.

Many gentry and merchants participated in post-disaster reconstruction work in some areas through newly emerging bureaucrats who had left Hanzhong.

Zhao Yuan first developed Xiangyang and Nanyang, and a large number of soldiers and civilians migrated here, and many refugees from the south were also settled.

At that time, supplies were extremely scarce, and many had to be transported from Hanzhong, allowing Hanzhong merchants to make a fortune.

Then came the reconstruction of the capital region, and merchants from Hanzhong also made a fortune.

A month later, hundreds of wealthy merchants from various counties in Hanzhong were summoned by Prefect Huang Shu'ao in a daze.

Some well-informed individuals had already guessed what it was about.

"Greetings, Prefect!"

When Huang Shu'ao appeared in the second hall of the government office, the merchants all stood up and bowed.

"No need for formalities," Huang Shu'ao said with a smile. "Let me introduce you all. These are the officials in charge of the Baoquan Bureau in Hanzhong..."

The merchants quickly bowed again.

After some polite greetings, Li Rui began to explain the policies, then had the merchants pass around the banknotes, and finally said:

"This year, three million strings of banknotes were printed and issued in Hanzhong, Chengdu, and Yuzhou."

"Hanzhong's quota is one million strings of cash, Chengdu's quota is one million three hundred thousand strings of cash, and Chongqing's quota is seven hundred thousand strings of cash."

“The Ming Dynasty’s paper money is different from the paper money and paper money issued in previous dynasties.”

"The smallest denomination is fifty strings of cash. Ordinary people would not use it. It is only for the convenience of merchants from Sichuan and Hanzhong."

"There was no war last year, and there will be no war this year. The national treasury is already full of money and grain, and we will not recklessly issue paper money to exploit the people. This will not happen now, and it will not happen in the future."

"Even if it is soiled or damaged, as long as the key features are still recognizable and the banknote is still 70-80% intact, it can be redeemed at the Baoquan Bureau at any time."

"Of course, besides trade, you can also pay taxes with paper money. If any government office dares to refuse, come to me and I guarantee they'll be dismissed immediately!"

"We are not forcing you to do so today. You can subscribe on the spot or you can consider it further."

A wealthy merchant asked, "If I transport goods to Shaanxi, can I pay taxes in Shaanxi using paper money?"

Li Rui said, "Yes, it's acceptable nationwide. No local government office can refuse to accept the paper money."

"Although the provinces do not use paper money for transactions, the government throughout the country can use paper money as tax revenue to hand over to the imperial court."

Seeing that many wealthy merchants still had doubts, Li Rui continued, "Do you all know that the imperial court melts down some iron coins every year when collecting taxes in Sichuan and Hanzhong? Is the plan to gradually replace the iron coins with copper coins over several decades?"

"We've heard about it," the merchants nodded.

Li Rui laughed and said, "You probably can't even count how many iron coins there are in Sichuan and Hanzhong. The court's decision to exchange iron coins is tantamount to losing hundreds of millions of coins for nothing."

"The imperial court can discard so much money like dirt, so why would it use the Ming Dynasty's precious paper money to exploit you merchants at the cost of damaging the court's reputation?"

Chapter 3268 The Land of the Rising Dragon

This statement is reasonable and very convincing.

Sichuan was the birthplace of the Ming dynasty, and Hanzhong was its core. Merchants there had considerable trust in the Ming court.

The first batch of war bonds issued by Zhao Yuan were fully redeemed last year, and there were no cases of default.

Some gentry with surplus money and grain, who were not well-versed in business, took the initiative to inquire about when new bonds would be issued.

They actually wanted to lend money to the imperial court, hoping to reliably earn that not-so-high interest.